Last week, I told you my true story about how I nearly died last summer. I am now going to tell you how reuniting with my son, J, has impacted my life for the better.

Re-uniting with him has literally changed my life!

This is a picture of the book that changed my life after re-uniting with my son.

Once We Re-united

One phone call led to another and we began talking on a regular basis.

Not arguing, but talking.

It was wonderful! Slowly, J let me back into his life.

We talked, we laughed, we cried.

I had always tried to be a good mother to him, and I must have done something right, since J is a non-smoker (I smoke), a drug-free person (he experimented a few times, with a few things, and so did I), a health and fitness nut who watches what he eats and works out all the time (my idea of working out is typing, and I love eating, as noted in my guest post on Hunger for Happiness), and a rare drinker (this he got from me; I am not big on booze).

J also is a positive person who somehow motivates me to want better things for our future. He truly is amazing.

He’s also tall, dark and handsome, since he’s half Spanish (I am a white, Canadian girl with Czech roots… so basically I am a white, Canadian girl!) and he’s pretty muscular, too, from hitting the gym on a constant basis. He won’t let me post a picture of him; he is a private person (I’ve mentioned this before). Anyway, when December rolled around, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. I’m his mom; I wanted to buy him a gift. (I like giving presents!)

He told me that he didn’t want anything. Huh? Nothing?

Nope. He told me to save my money.

What My Son Wanted for Me

When I pressed him, he told me that he didn’t need anything, but that it was nice that I wanted to get him something. Instead, he said, it would mean more to him if I bought myself something that I needed. That’s what he wanted for Christmas – for me to buy myself something! Read More

I’ll never forget the weekend of August 24-26, 2012 as long as I live. It was the weekend that marked a major, life-changing event. I nearly died that weekend. The weird thing is – I’m actually grateful for this experience, because it led me to my son.

Let me tell you about it.

This was taken last Halloween but it pertains to the story in this post, so I am using it here… I love colours (as you may know) and this love is evident in this picture! I line up my dabber lids following the colours of the rainbow! (Notice the Certs? I love Certs, too!)

What happened in my life and how I nearly died:

On Friday, August 24, 2012, I went to Bingo. I ordered and drank iced tea that evening, and began feeling a bit weird. I got a stomachache, and began feeling nauseous. I hadn’t eaten anything, so I knew I didn’t have food poisoning. I thought that maybe the iced tea was tainted. I don’t think I will ever know if it was, for sure. I just know that I felt fine beforehand. Read More

Some of you may remember Baby Sam from this post, and I have to thank those of you who donated to this little girl’s fundraiser for cancer research. Today’s post is to give you an update of this brave, smart and adorable little girl, and to show off my new video-making skills!

Samantha, affectionately called Sam by her friends and family, is my one-year-old niece who has retinoblastoma. This is a rare form of eye cancer, usually hereditary.

Her father, Charlie also has retinoblastoma. He now has only one eye. Sam, on the other hand, still has both, and can see well enough to spot crumbs on the floor!

Her last check-up at SickKids Hospital in Toronto revealed that her cancer has been “killed” as a result of all of her treatments. She has made many visits to SickKids since she was two days old, and has received cryotherapy, chemotherapy, and laser therapy to treat the tumors found in both of her eyes.

Sam also has glasses, stylish baby blue ones, as seen in this photo:

On June 14th, 2013, Sam walked a lap in the Relay For Life fundraiser in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She was asked to “kick off” the event, and decided to accept that honour! Read More

Ok, people, I have a lot to say, and not much time to say it, so please listen up!

First of all, I want to say thanks to all my new Followers — from WordPress and Twitter. A big “shout out” to all of you! Keep sharing my stuff, and I will do the same. Or, at the very least, I will “like” it, to let you know that I read it (assuming I don’t comment)!

It is now January 13th, and we are almost two weeks into the new year. I set some goals for myself this year, and am diligently working on realizing them. I have never been more motivated, and it feels great!

First off, I just bought a laptop, and I named her mybaby. I have never owned a laptop before, although I have some experience with working with computers. I must tell you, I am NOT a technical person. Thank goodness that nowadays, I don’t need to be, as computers can do almost everything for me… I love mybaby, she’s great! I also am learning how to do all sorts of things on the internet, like building my own webpage, following people on Twitter, interacting with others on facebook, and basically just trying to build a platform… a buzzword known to some of you but something that is new to me.

Why am I doing all this, you ask? Simple. I am a writer, and I have a lot to say. I am also trying to “break in” to the literary community step by step, and achieve some personal goals. One of these goals is to publish a book that I wrote while attending university. Although it has been about 17 years since I wrote The Life and Love of Canadian Poetry: An Interpretative View, I have finally come to a point in my life where actions speak louder than words. I have something to prove to myself, and to my son as well.

I wrote The Life and Love of Canadian Poetry: An Interpretative View as part of the requirments for a course I took, “Studies In Canadian Poetry”, taught by Professor Cindy Soldan at Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1996. I was given a choice on the first day of class: either plan to do a two-week take-home exam at the end of the course, or use the semester to do a bunch of research and write a book that I would submit at the end of the course to be used as my evaluation. I have always been a writer at heart, and I figured since I was spending thousands and thousands (and thousands and thousands) of dollars on a university education, I might as well LEARN something while doing it! Anyway, I can’t tell you how many hours, days, weeks and months I spent learning the content of this book, but I do know for sure that it was one semester long… and I enjoyed every minute of it! My hard work paid off, too, as I received the highest mark in the entire class, according to Professor Cindy, who also encouraged me to get it published, something that never even occurred to me when I was writing it!

The Life and Love of Canadian Poetry: An Interpretative View is a reference book that will likely be used by college and university students, and is therefore marketable to college and university libraries. I am trying to get it published now…

UPDATE: Since writing this, I have been doing many other things. This book is still sitting on my shelf. Ugh. 🙁

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